In this world, Professional Wrestling is Serious Business, so the next generation of superpowered wrestlers is getting trained at the Hercules Factory, and Mantarou is no exception. While Mantarou is a coward, he's usually willing to fight when the chips are down, and this wins him a few friends: Terry the Kid (Terry "The Grand" Kenyon), an American (and, by default, Texan); Seiuchin (Wally Tuskett), an anthropomorphic walrus; and Gazelleman (Dik Dik Van Dik), an anthropomorphic gazelle and supreme victim of The Worf Effect.

The action is organized into arcs. The first arc deals with the gang's attempt to graduate; the second arc deals with their struggles against the evil dMp; the third arc focuses on their battles against the new graduates of the Hercules Factory; and the final and longest arc deals with the Chojin Tournament, a gigantic battle between the world's greatest wrestlers.

There are two manga series — one that is running in Weekly Shonen Playboy in Japan and is being sold in volumes in the US, and another that appeared in V-Jump in Japan, follows a different continuity.

Tropes:

Quite the opposite in the case of Mantarou — Kinnikuman was extremely happy to have a son to continue the bloodline of the Kinniku clan that he pampered Mantarou to the point where he became a Spoiled Brat. It makes sense when you read the original series and see that Kinnikuman's father Mayumi, while not a bad person, completelyfailed at being a good father to both of his sons and Kinnikuman probably didn't want history to repeat himself.

Played painfully straight with Kinnikuman's Evil Counterpart, Kinkotsuman. His constant abuse of his son and wife created one of the most monstrous heels in the history of the series.

Aerith and Bob: Seiuchin's mother is named Suzy and his sister is named Dorothy.

Hydrazoa, being made out of water, has the ability to absorb his opponents into his body and drown them, causing this.

Be Careful What You Wish For: Kinkotsuman was nothing more than a Big Bad Wannabe in the original series, who tried desperately to defeat Kinnikuman but was thwarted every time. In hope of finally beating Kinnikuman, he put his rather milquetoast son, Bone Cold, through hellish training. The result? Bone Cold became a certified Bad Ass, but part of his motivation of becoming one was because he hated his old man's guts (who at this point, had an epiphany and tried to make amends) and wanted to distance himself from how lame Kinkotsuman was.

Terry the Kid throws a race at one point to save a drowning child (whom nobody had seen drowning because they were busy watching the race). According to him, he was motivated by a memory of his father throwing a contest to save a puppy from an oncoming train — an incident seen in the original Kinnikuman.

Also like Akuma Shogun in the original series, Checkmate is unable to feel pain, thus he doesn't know when he's injured, however it turns out to be a bigger deal for him than it does for Akuma Shogun.

The Demon Seed arc heavily resembles the Seven Devil Choujin arc.

Mantarou's fight against Dialbolik/Tel-Tel-Boy is similar to his father's battle with Stecasse King in the original series.

Casanova Wannabe: Along with inheriting his father's incredible physique and his Eleventh Hour Superpower, Burning Inner Strength (which was called Ultimate Muscle in the English dub) it looks like Mantarou inherited his father's rather poor luck at wooing the ladies. Well, Suguru did manage to get two girls to truly like him; Mantarou at least managed to get two girls to follow him around... for some reason.

Kinnikuman Great appears once more in the Ultimate Choujin Tag Team arc, this time as a disguise for Choujin otaku Chaos Avenir. Due to a tear in the mask, his hair pokes out of the forehead of it, just like Mantarou. In the Finals however due to Chaos' death, Kinnikuman Great arrived with his mask restitched and it was Kevin Mask.

Warsman does this twice. First as Kevin Mask's trainer Kuroé (Lord Flash), and then as Hells Bear Belmond.

Mammothman as Hells Bear Michael.

Character Development: by the time the Choujin Olympics comes to an end, you will see a completely different Mantarou during his matches, he is more than capable to act without Meat giving him advice every minute, when the Ultimate Choujin Tag Team arc kicks in Mantarou can be considered an independent fighter already, he no longer acts cowardly during the matches and is now the one to pass some advice to his partner Chaos.

Clean Dub Name: Subverted! Gazelleman was renamed "Dik Dik Van Dik" for the english dub, a change that went over so well that after American TV show X-Play reviewed the (actually good) Ultimate Muscle Gamecube game Adam Sessler started wearing a Dik Dik T-Shirt, constantly referenced Dik Diks and even put (radioactive) Dik Diks into the X-Play online videogame! There was also an anime magazine that listed this as "the number one best name change ever".

Compensated Dating: One-shot villain The Rigany manages to force this on a minor female character in the manga.

Kid Muscle: Hey I just got it, that "K" on Terry's forehead must stand for Kiss— Meat: Hey! Why don't you watch your mouth kid. If you use profanity they'll send you packing right off this planet. Kid Muscle: Why didn't you say so you son of a— Buffaloman:Enough!

Darker and Edgier: Unlike the original Kinnikuman, which was classified as Shounen, this series is classified as a Seinen manga, resulting in the series being much more violent than its predecessor.

Death's Hourglass: Suguru was given this by Satan in a form of a spider with the help of the evil alliance of the Lightning, Thunder, Neptuneman, and Mammothman before the semi-finals of the Ultimate Choujin Tag Tournament. It does three options to try to halt the process: Power of Love by a hug from his mother, Bibinba, or Mari (he didn't with the third since he's being faithful to Bibinba); turning upside-down to turn the sand back, and using Iron Sweat, which is caused by breaking friendship as a Seigi Choujin, as a magnet to prevent the sand from ever flowing. With the help of Terryman berating him, the third option got rid of it once and for all.

Played frighteningly straight with Mantarou. Since he didn't have full control of his Burning Inner Strength he wouldn't completely heal from his battles. At one point we see all the scars he had accumulated to that point and it is horrifying.

Dirty Old Man: Jijioman, who makes up the more active half of Barrierfreeman.

Discard and Draw: When Brocken Jr.'s arm has been cut off by Lightning and Thunder, Jade no longer knows how to do the Red Rain of Berlin because memories of learning the move in the past from Brocken was altered. Fortunately, it is replaced with a new technique from Brocken back then who had a hook arm due to the altered past called "Brocken's Repatriation " which turns Jade's left leg into a sickle!

Ditto Fighter: Bloxx/Legocs is capable of shaping himself into a mold of any opponent, copying not only their appearance but their abilities and tactics. After doing so to Kevin Mask, their fight quickly turned to a merry-go-round of Cross Counters

Do Not Call Me Paul: Mantarou originally hated his name because he found out why he was named as such. Subverted in the fact that he either got over or stopped caring about how he was named.

Kevin Mask is an Expy of Real Life professional wrestler Kevin Nash. Not only is this evident in Mask's name, but also in that Mask's body build and "screw tradition" philosophy are extremely similar to Nash's. Also, much like Nash, he doesn't lose.

The Constellation is more than likely an Expy of Black Hole, another Devil Choujin from the original Kinnikuman.

Face-Heel Turn: While almost totally absent from the original Kinnikuman series, there are several instances of it happening here, including Neptuneman, Sunshine, and Ashuraman (Three villains from the previous series who had been "befriended", Brazilian fighter Ricardo, and most recently, Seiuchin. Ricardo is an interesting case, as he didn't so much turn evil as he decided to stop resisting his evil nature.

The Faceless: Mantarou and Suguru (and some other major Kinniku fighters), both son and father's real faces are unknown, truth to be told most of the Kinniku race would qualify if their masks weren't so blatantly modeled exactly like their real faces that one couldn't tell they were wearing one if not for their Ultraman-shapped heads. The few instances Mantarou and Suguru shows a glimpse of what their real faces might look like it proves that they are nowhere as Gonk looking as their masks imply, it must be divine as in the Ultimate Choujin Tag Tournament arc when both take off their masks, their faces are so impossibly cool that it blinds the crowd thus preventing their faces to be known, also the silhouettes are more detailed this time around to at least confirm they are not ugly, it could be above average even.

Fake Brit: An in-universe example with Checkmate. Despite his personality being that of a classic, British gentleman, he's actually from Monaco.

Fan Disservice: The non-sexual kind. Warsman and Mammothman teaming up in the most current arc was, in spite of being foreshadowed heavily earlier in the arc, nice to watch since both have always been fan favorites in spite of the latter being an Omnicidal Maniac. Then Mammothman suffers from Chronic Backstabbing Disorder...

Fantastic Racism: One of the main reasons why the Demon Seeds made a Face-Heel Turn by siding with Satan/General Terror was due to their dissatisfaction with their treatment by normal humans. The humans' treatment of the Devil Choujin is somewhat justified because, well, the Devil Choujin did try to take over the world... multiple times.

Kevin Mask really hates his father, Robin Mask due to the Spartan-like training he forced him to endure. Bone Cold, son of Harmless Villain Kinkotsuman, became incredibly cruel thanks to his old man abusing him and his mother.

Ashuraman made a Face-Heel Turn due to his his son going absolutely crazy after finding out about his Devil Choujin days. The fact that he, along with the other Devil Choujin were treated rather harshly by humans for their misdeeds despite switching sides did not help matters.

Generation Xerox: Played straight with Canadian Boy and Specialman Jr. Obviously subverted with Mantarou (who was a lot less heroic than Suguru at the start), Terry the Kid (who actively tries to not be like his father) and Kevin Mask (who also sought to be different from his father). The subversion of the trope is inverted with Maxman, who looks nothing like his grandfather, Sneagator (a Devil Choujin from the original series) but is just as intimidating as him.

Genius Bruiser: Scarface's power and speed make him a force to be reckoned with, but his real strength is his mastery of wrestling techniques and his intelligence.

Give Him a Normal Life: Kinnikuman decided to try this with Mantarou and thus had his fight records annuled so that his son wouldn't know of his evil-fighting career. It kinda backfired in that Mantarou became incredibly lazy and cowardly. It does pay off during Mantaro's fight against Tel Tel Boy. Tel Tel channels Suguru, hoping to instill some "fear of the father" in the son, but since Mantarou's grown up thinking his dad as nothing more than a bumbling idiot, it backfires. Completely.

Go Mad from the Revelation:After finding out that his father used to be a particularly nasty villain,Ashuraman's son, Shiva totally snaps and kills his mother, which results in his father having to perform a Mercy Kill.

Heel-Face Revolving Door: Kevin Mask was going through this phase when the series began, but now seems to be on the Face side. Scarface is pretty much stuck in this trope for now.

Implacable Man: Check Mate was introduced as a villain who felt no pain. Mantarou turned this against him, pushing Check's body beyond its limits without him knowing. After his Heel-Face Turn, Check lost this aspect of his character.

Improbable Age: Mantarou and his pals begin their wrestling careers at age 14.

Gazelleman graduates the Hercules Factory as the # 1 overall wrestler. He never wins a single match (save for one in an anime Filler arc, and another in the V-Jump manga, which follows a different continuity).

The same can be said for Jade. Despite being described as the best fighter of the new graduates, since his introduction he's only won two matches.

Insistent Terminology: Doubled as a Running Gag in the anime. People would often stress the wrong part of Mantarou's full name (ie. Kinnikuman Taro instead of Kinniku Mantarou). Cue Mantarou correcting them with visual aid.

Invincible Hero: For some, Kevin Mask amounts to this. Has yet to lose a match in the manga. The single arguable counterarguement was when he and Scarface fought the last two Akuma Choujin in the Demon Seed arc, Voltman and Ashuraman. But it was a match where losing one teammate amounted to a loss, so Scarface was the one that was defeated instead. This is mostly due to Popularity Power, since Kevin comes in first place in nearly every character poll. Mantarou, meanwhile, is lucky to even be in the top ten. He does lose in the semi-finals of the V-Jump manga — and not even to Mantarou!

I Was Quite a Looker: Subverted. The flabby, aged Kinnikuman was simply better built in his younger days. It's unknown whether or not his facial features have deteriorated thanks to Mask Power.

Joke Character: Both this and its predecessor are full of such characters. For instance, two of the Chojins who make it to the wrestling part of the Chojin Crown are a Lego—err, building block man and a high-tech toilet man named "Wash Ass" in the Japanese version (his mentor was a character from the original series who was a urinal from the Inca Empire). In the dubbed version, at least, the latter character is also a successful actor on the side (he's called the Hollywood Bowl).

Dial Bolic/Tel Tel Boy killing famous wrestlers just to get an audience's attention.

His fellow dMp member Maxman is no better; when Dial Bolic/Tel Tel Boy fails to beat Mantarou, Maxman kills him (yes, by kicking him).

Neptuneman, after Wally/Seiuchin regains his humanity, teams up with Mammothman, and they proceed to literally rip his face off.

Suguru and Terry were shooting dogs at an alarming rate in their match against Mantarou and Chaos. Fans were not pleased.

Dead Signal and Clioneman both attempted to kick the dog (or more accurately, smash the dog and incinerate the fans, respectively). Coincidentally, they never made any major appearance outside of a cameo in the anime-only Poison Six Pack arc after their defeat.

Rinko (Roxanne) and Jacqueline are supposed to be this for Mantarou, but unlike his father's interests back in Kinnikuman, Mantarou's are obviously not as interested on him as his father's, whom had their eyes for him not long after their introduction. In Mantarou's case, it is implied at best because later in the series both girls hang around with him just for hell of it; Suguru at least had a few chapters dedicated to him and his interests developing some romance; poor Mantarou has none.

Adding insult to Mantarou's injury, Suguru's triangle with Bibimba and Mari still gets some attention in the Ultimate Choujin Tag Team arc just because is conveniently set in the past, something that was wrapped up in canon decades before is more important than the new impliedLove Triangle, yep.

Mars/Scarface takes this to an extreme with his "Madness Mask" that gives him a drastic power boost whenever he puts it on.

Meaningful Name: Ikemen's name is of the ironic variety; it means "handsome man", which he's anything but.

Mega Manning: Scarface's most oft-used ability is that of analysis, which he uses to create improved versions of several techniques that get used against him.

Moral Myopia: Peshango's reaction to Ricardo's true nature, to immediately attempt to kill the man for being a by-birth Evil Choujin, along with the attitudes of Ricardo's fellow students. And the discrimination was BEFORE it was revealed he killed the old man.

New World Order: The dMp, which stands for "Demon Manufacturing Plant," though in the US dub, it is said to stand for "Destruction, Mayhem, and PAAAAIIIIINNN!"

No Koreans in Japan: Averted. Unlike the original Kinnikuman, there are several Korean Chojin including Namul, Jijimiman, Bossam, and Tteok.

Old Superhero: The heroes of the previous series are made painfully aware of their age in their initial (failed) attempt at combating the dMp.

Out of Focus: Out of the six other chojins who graduated from the Hercules Factory in episode five with Kid Muscle, Terry, Wally and Dik Dik, one of them (Barbarian) is killed off shortly afterwards, and the others practically vanish after the Generation X storyline.

Patronymic: Played straight with Terry the Kid, who borrows from his father Terryman's name. Subverted with Kevin Mask, who is part of the Robin family that for generations adhered to this trope (His great grandfather was Robin Grande, grandfather was Robin Knight, and father Robin Mask).

Redemption Equals Death: Seiuchin/Wally during the Ultimate Choujin Tag Team Arc. After being turned into a truly horrifying psychotic Perfect Choujin by Neptuneman, to the pont of killing Checkmate, Barrierfreeman, Comrade Turbinski/Iloukhine and Scarface, plus breaking Jade's neck, he is finally snapped out of it during the match against Warsman and Mammothman. He dies shortly there after, pushing Warsman out of the way of the new team of Neptuneman and Mammothman's Optical Fiber Cross Bomber — which strips all the skin off of his face.

Remnants of the dMp have a habit of showing up in most story arcs after their organization's collapse in the first.

For that matter, Scarface sought to revive the dMp using the trophy for the Ultimate Tag Tournament.

Ret Gone: In a story arc set in the past, Brocken Jr. loses his right arm in a match, thus removing his trademark Red Rain of Berlin attack. In the next match, Jade attempts the move and is shocked to find he can't do it. Looking at a photo shows that Brocken Jr.'s hand is now a hook, therefore Brocken could never have taught the move to Jade. After some time for Jade's mind to adapt to his new memories, he now knows a leg-based version of the move: Brocken's Repatriation.

Verbal Tic: In the anime, Mantarou gained a penchant for replacing the polite sentence-ender "masu" with "massuru/muscle".

Weak, but Skilled: Suguru of all people. 28 years of downtime have wrecked havoc on his physique, but he can still pull off some killer submission techniques.

The Worf Effect: Originally Gazelleman's specialty, but because he's been less and less active as a fighter recently, it appears to have been passed on to German brawler Jade. It probably didn't help when Gazelleman began to be regarded as a joke in-universe as well. The fact that even he admits he's a Joke Character now pretty much ends any chance of him being competitive again.

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